Smoky Refried Bean Soup

I had been craving Mexican for awhile and I was leaning toward a burrito night or some other such thing...but then I remembered the wonderment that is taco soup. I decided to make Susan V's smoky refried bean soup. If you love beans and spicy goodness, this is the soup for you.

I changed the recipe a bit. We don't have smoked paprika or chipotle chili powder, so I used regular paprika and chili powder and added a teaspoon or so of liquid smoke. I also added a bit of this chipotle salsa we have, but that's more or less because I am addicted to it. Oh yes, and hot sauce. Because we like it spicy. Another change I made was to blend about half of the soup with my immersion blender. So it still had hunks of beans and veggies in there, but was more thick and creamy. Top it off with some crushed tortilla chips and diced tomato and there's dinner. It's so filling that we didn't serve it with anything else...one big bowl was plenty for me. I look forward to devouring the left overs.

Next time I make it I think I will make a nutritional yeast "cheese" sauce to swirl on the top. But I like to put cheese sauce on everything.